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Welcome back to Copy/Paste, the series where the Official Reviewers team analyzes recurring ideas, trends, and even melodies across the scene to figure out what inspires our artists and what makes the scene tick. Like always, we separate things into Homages (tributes) or Copies ("inspiration"), and in the rare cases even Plagiarism and Beyond. It's been some time since our last installment, so we have plenty of interesting comparisons scheduled for today. Is your favorite band in the list? EDITOR'S NOTE: The titles should be read from left to right, so generally the song on the left is the newer song (copy) and the song on the right is the older song (original). EDITOR'S SECOND NOTE: This is all in good fun and isn't meant to be taken super seriously. lynch.'s "exist" vs. lynch.'s "NEW PSYCHO PARALYZE" DEATHGAZE's "SINNER" vs. trust company's "The war is over" DEZERT's "不透明人間。" (Futomei Ningen.) vs. DEATHGAZE's "闇に雨 腐敗した世界" (Yami ni Ame Fuhai Shita Sekai) Starting riff for this song Start around ~1:04 Marry+An+Blood - "Daraku /DARK･STAR" vs. lamiel - "空が堕ちるアノ日" (Sora ga Ochiru Ano Hi) Dir en grey - "残-ZAN-" vs. 黒夢's (Kuroyume) "親愛なるDEATH MASK -2-" (Shinainaru DEATH MASK -2-) D’espairsRay’s "「タトエバ」キミ...ガ...シンダ...ラ" (Tatoeba...kimi...ga...shinda...ra) vs. Marilyn Manson’s "Angel with the scabbed wings" Sadie's "empty room" vs. 12012's "雨、削ぎ落とされた感覚" (Ame, Sogi otosareta kankaku) Sadie's empty room: https://youtu.be/jxfP9uwwOxs?t=2770 -OZ-'s "Succubus" vs. Lycaon's "The [1st] degree genocide holic"

D will release a new single titled "道化師のカタルシス" (Doukeshi no Catharsis) on 2019.07.10. Type A (CD+DVD, 2,400 yen + taxes) - 3 songs CD 1. "道化師のカタルシス" (Doukeshi no Catharsis) 2. New Song A 3. New Song C (Instrumental) DVD "道化師のカタルシス" (Doukeshi no Catharsis) MV+ Making-Of - Includes booklet Type B (CD, 1,500 yen + taxes) - 4 songs CD 1. "道化師のカタルシス" (Doukeshi no Catharsis) 2. New Song A 3. New Song B 4. "道化師のカタルシス" (Doukeshi no Catharsis) (Instrumental)

vk needs more bands with proper screamo-style vocals and less growling / pig squeals imho

The resurgence of so much hate over Mejibray made me feel like watching their 2014's performance at ShibuKo. And re-confirmed that they actually did pretty well their job honoring visual kei back in the day. So I'm leaving this in case you get intrigued or triggered. Now you can go back and listen to Royz😉

absolutely

The trick to avoiding social shame is to have two completely separate music libraries. One is essentially "J-rock and visual kei" and the other is "everything else". When I'm given the aux for a car ride, or asked what I listen to, I pull from the "everything else" group. When someone is feeling adventurous, or I know the tastes of the person I'm talking to, or I'm on MH, I go into my J-rock collection. Every once in a while I'll sprinkle in some visual kei/J-Rock with other international recommendations, people fall for it, and are none the wiser. I keep up on contemporary music just enough to hold a conversation about Green Day or J-Cole, but that's it. This separation is more logical than physical, but it helps a lot. It's almost a non-solution to your issue, but people are never gonna stop teasing you for liking visual kei, so the best you can do is give off an image that you listen to music from all over the world so you can lose that weeb label.

I don't know how, but somehow, I think he made this work. Maybe it's because the instrumentals were so good, or perhaps it's because they were just very unique/easily recognisable, or it could be both, but I quite liked them. At the very least, they stood out. As for this, I see this kinda thing quite a lot and I really think the stigma directed towards Meji because of their fandom is entirely undeserved. Just because people you don't like happen to be into sth, that doesn't mean you have to hate that thing just to spite them and it really rubs me the wrong way when I see this. I would hate to be the creator of a passion project I poured my heart and soul into only to see it boycotted purely because I happened to have a few dickheads following me. Sorry if this comes off as shitting on your post, @suji >.< I didn't mean it like that. I love ya really.

PIERROT, SIAM SHADE, SuG, LUCHe., i.Rias, BORN, SCREW, lolita 23q (with soshi), MoNoLith, marblehead, AN CAFE, ViViD, Sadie, girugamesh, -OZ-, Hi:BRiD, ValettA... (I know Sadie is on hiatus but ;___;)

They have some incredible songs. There's a raw emotion to mejibray, sometimes it doesn't get translated well into their music, that's when you get the worst of them. But when it hits, it hits HARD

glad my favorite gen 2 boi is getting some meme love --- Unless those comments are satirical/ in humor, those aren't real friends. To be honest, I realized very early on that completely divulging to others (or pushing) my Japanese hobbies without context would really come off as weird and awkward to most people. Luckily, in high-school I perfected the craft of introducing my friends, who had varying levels of interest in video games or anime, to j-rock & visual kei. While I wasn't as successful a vk missionary in college (immediately got the "hurr durr are u gay" question), I figured the more genres I had in my "repertoire" the better I could connect w/ people and possibly introduce them to vk. To this day, my wealth of music interests has been the king of icebreakers. Some successful examples: Late 00's - Early 2010's metalcore and post-hardcore was still huge, so I showed my metalhead friends the Crossfaith - Blue live clip (only their first album was out at the time), and they dug the shit out of that. Promptly blew up w/ their second album a year-and-a-half later. A friend of mine at the time liked the 14th opening to BLEACH, which was guess what, ViViD - Blue. Ended up getting him and a few others hooked on DIV. Friend of mine who mainly liked VGM (Video Game Music) found my earllly visual kei YouTube channel and really liked the SolariS tracks I posted, which was really interesting. I got him into the Raid.'s first mini and xTRiPx. Helped that he had a Korean-Canadian friend that introduced him to vocaloid/utaite stuff. While K-pop isn't for everyone, it has made strides to change the perspective of androgyny and masculinity in the U.S, and elsewhere. I had friends who were only into K-pop be completely accepting of visual kei aesthetics b/c they had that frame of reference.

D'espairsRay for sure, even if it meant their quality kept dropping. I was devastated once RENTRER EN SOI disbanded too, but now I can find comfort in knowing they ended things before it all went to shit (and it would've happened). Their timing was perfect. Other than that, I just wish Isshi was still alive.

D'espairsRay, Morrigan (especially since Nihit joined and could have easily replaced Pitty.), Boom Boom Satellites and for Michiyuki to have never gotten cancer and died, deadman, MEJIBRAY(🤔) Girugamesh (even though they got worse over time.), PIERROT, Malice Mizer (the future is hopeful.). I can't think of anything else at the moment. If we're including non-Japanese I'd definitely say MCR and HIM.

Definitely D'espairsRay. It was kinda like they had to disband unwillingly. Still personally hope that they will come back together some day. Another band could be RENTRER EN SOI, but considering all the drama happening within the band itself, disbanding could be the only way out. On top of that, the two core RES members joining sukekiyo makes RENTRER EN SOI's disbandment more acceptable to me. But what I regret up til now is that they disbanded when their musical career was at the peak, the quality of their music was so good back then.

Pierrot Janne Da Arc :////

i bought HIZAKI's 'Princess Stairs' at the time and it legit smelled like rubbing alcohol. also, i would like this:

new unit "The Reveude" has formed on May 1 and they have held their first live on May 5 at Urawa Narciss. [lineup] Vo.I (capital i) Gt.遥 (haruka) (ex-MERE REVEIL → Lanus Dune → Allegory Pill → CHELSEA → Juka (support) → E'm～grief～ (as Cecir)) OHP Twitter Instagram

What are some bands that you absolutely LOVE, that are no longer together and you wish they still were? For me, D'espairsRay is my number one band that is no longer together, and I wish they were. I'm just glad that they still make music, even if it's not with eachother.

Synside - TRUTH 仙台貨物 - 神様もう少しだけ アリス九號 - FANTASY お遊戯ゎが魔々団×【PaRADEiS】- albare Neo - New Age Revolution (w/ signed photocard of 氷龍～hiryu～) GLAY - 時の雫 Sadie - Juggernaut ドレミ團 - ワカバノキヲク

Not got a problem with K Pop but don't really listen to it. Much prefer J Pop (especially old J Pop from the 70s/80s) but do like Psy just because he's funny over anything else, has a couple of catchy tunes.

Today is world goth day I am thinking about doing some cool makeup

It’s not even by age. I remember I wore a My Chemical Romance shirt to school and this close minded asshat says stuff like “oh no your gonna shoot up the school” and “haha that shit is emo. Listen to good music”. Like shut your fucking mouth. Just because I like MCR, Panic! or any other “emo” band does not make me “emo”. It just makes me a fan. Ugh

MISSA - Garden GAUZE - 304号室、白死の桜／アクロの丘 MACABRE - 理由 鬼葬 - undecided VULGAR - DRAIN AWAY／かすみ Withering to Death - 鼓動 THE MARROW OF A BONE UROBOROS - Inconvenient Ideal DUM SPIRO SPERO - LOTUS ARCHE - 輪郭 The Insulated World - Ranunculus I buckled and did two for GAUZE and VULGAR, my favourite of their albums and I just couldn't decide.

Mejibray is a very important band to me, but I’ve said before that I can understand the haters. Originally, Tsuzuku’s voice did not do it for me: it took me seeing them live on a whim to get into then, and I still maintain that a good chunk of their songs are better live than they were recorded. That said, I think Mejibray may draw excessive vitriol due to the amount of exposure it had and the kind same of younger fans they attracted. I’m pretty sure this has been the consensus every time the discussion has cropped up.

We take our androgynous Japanese musicians VERY seriously around these parts.

That’s...an interesting way to describe them but ok

aicle. and 9GBO. I'll agree with whoever said MCR, Three Cheers was their best material but the direction they were going in after Black Parade was interesting

𝖌𝖍𝖔𝖘𝖙

As others have mentioned, D'espairsRays for sure. Also, Moran would be lovely to see again. Miss Sadie as well. I would say Kagrra, but as @saishuu already brought up just really wish Isshi was still around...

Madeth gray'll ;___;

Megaromania, Celia'xeno, Malice Mizer, Da'vid/shito:aL, or Klein Kaiser...xD And Sear/Lene because they went to shit once they went to Starwave...

I prefer Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, but TBP is beloved to many including my girlfriend so I totally understand where you're coming from lol.

Signal, unsraw, sadie, 12012

Hey everyone! I just wanted to say I'm sorry for making that post about the Western Fans shit. Just to be clear that I am against people taking photos at concerts, however, I am not against just taking one or two photos at concerts. I will still say that I don't mind the whole "no camera" stuff. At the end of the day, it depends on the band. If they say no, then no and if they say yes, then go ahead. I want to apologize for sounding too defensive in my post. I get really defensive about stuff that I like and I want to say that I will stop that. I didn't even know that most fans on here don't like the "no camera" rule. Lastly, I want to say that I really regret making that post and I want it deleted. Best regards R O Z E N

I see no much difference in the Kpop and VK scenes besides the musical genre. They both have a similar marketing, cater to a similar demographic, both scenes have some sort of sexual exploitation behind a pretty facade, similar arguably repetitive sounds (even choreo) and both have performers posing as musicians playing/singing and dancing to songs they didn't write, although VK does have a lot more performers actually writing their music.

New band "L'eveil en Roseraie" have formed on 2018/11/11. Next live will be at Nishikujou BRAND NEW on 2019/01/27. The first single "静寂の闇に舞う愛と悪戯の遁走曲" went on sale on 2018/12/31 in his live at Kyoto MUSE. "L'eveil en Roseraie" members: vo. Neue -ノイエ- gt.&pi. Renée - ルネ - ba. 忍(ren)(support) dr. 拓郎(takurou)(support) (ex.Larme d'ange) "静寂の闇に舞う愛と悪戯の遁走曲" CD TrackList: 1. 静寂の闇に舞う愛と悪戯の遁走曲 2. フーガ ト短調 -Organ Choral- ohp

We stan 80s Japanese City Pop.

Just tons of metal subgenres

Metal and metalcore, maybe hip hop, not entirely sure.

Sads first “tour” was in England (which is really ???? but you know how Kiyoharu do) but it was only 3 dates, and he’s played solo in Taiwan a few times. But he’s never done any shows in the US before, even though he’s come here for video shoots! I really hope he can make it a more regular thing like Morrie has

Are you sure you're not confusing the Mejibray fan base with that of 8P-SB?

Wow, you guys are a proper picky bunch aren't you? haha.

we need a black metal vk band

Also, a lot of western visual kei fans don’t speak/read Japanese, so they don’t know what’s happening in the Japanese part of the fandom at all. So if all these fans are only interacting with other western fans, then you’re only going to hear about problems with western fans.

I used to dislike K-pop w/ golden-era bands (late-2000's - early-2010's) b/c I found the songs to be really "robotic" and anthemic. The motifs that pervaded western pop + kpop like heavy autotune, techno, metallic design, heavy eyeshadow, etc. weren't really my thing. This current generation of K-Pop I find is a lot more diversified in a musical sense w/ producers + composers playing with more experimental genres/sub-genres. Now, K-Pop bands will use wonky, moombahton, tropical house, 80's, r&b, etc. influences that I really vibe with. I do enjoy 1st generation and early-2nd generation (90's + early 2000's) as well, but that's because of the generally melodic pop sound at the time. Here were some of my gateway songs (I find groups w/ artsy or androgynous concepts to be good segues from vk. Now, musically, you won't be in the same territory, obv.): Korean phonetics used to be a huge barrier for me, but after listening to enough Korean, I got used to it. I find a lot of the newer K-Pop I'm interested in heavily tied to my interest in certain EDM genres (I use "EDM" in this case as a blanket-term for all electronic music.) --- Now, I certainly haven't gotten used to the rabid, but dedicated fanbase K-pop groups have, and I don't really participate in much of the online banter + fan activities either. Over-exploitation, while obviously inexcusable, is rampant in both K-pop and J-pop (and elsewhere.) I find the J-idol exploitation a lot more sinister than K-pop (namely the "black companies" and sexual exploitation), but then again, that's just what we know of in the public sphere. I like a lot of indie J-pop and solo-artists, but I find a lot of the mainstream Japanese idol groups to be really corny/insufferable. I also find the groups to be more focused on homogeneity than individuality. I'm generalizing a bit when I say that, though. I'd say, discover music on a band-to-band basis rather than focusing on just genres (the popular bands/groups of a genre) if you really want to open yourself to different things. A certain niche band might be the first domino that catalyzes your future discoveries and interest in the larger genre. *I've been referring to K-pop in the "group"-sense, so I forgot to mention K-indie and solo acts. I feel like J-indie is a bit more diverse, but both have a similar feel. There's such a huge rift between mainstream K-pop and indie to where I treat them like separate genres. I feel like Korean media always pushes to the extreme the groups from the big labels over indie acts. (Probably because the big five play huge economic roles in SK, wheras JP labels aren't as pronounced in the economic-sense idk Avex, Sony, and Johnny's numbers tho. SK has always been kinda corporatocratic, idk if that's an appropriate way to describe it.)

his cober album "DRESS" will be released at 2019/06/23 (2 types) Crowdfunding special edition for those who participated to the crowdfunding, they will have a special gift + regular edition (3500yen) [tracklist] 愛の讃歌 (Ai no Sanka) / Edith Piaf（美輪明宏訳詞） 誕生 (Tanjou) / 中島みゆき (Nakajima Miyuki) リフレインが叫んでる (Refrain ga Sakenderu) / 松任谷由実 (Yumi Matsutouya) 異邦人 (Kotokunibito) / 久保田早紀 (Saki Kubota) ミ・アモーレ(Meu amor e…) / 中森明菜 (Nakamori Akina) 難破船 (Nanbasen) / 中森明菜 (Nakamori Akina) 背徳のシナリオ (Haitoku ni Scenario) / Wink やさしいキスをして (Yasashii Kiss wo Shite) / DREAMS COME TRUE それでも明日はやってくる (Soredemo Ashita wa Yattekuru) / 鈴木結女 (Yume Suzuki) カウントダウン (Countdown) / Cocco 罪と罰 (Tsumi to Batsu) / 椎名林檎 (Shina Ringo) Cage / 鬼束ちひろ (Onitsuka Chihiro) 鮫 (Same) / 天野月子 (Amanotsukiko) [musicians] DIE（hide with Spread Beaver/Ra:IN） 人時（黒夢） közi（MALICE MIZER/ZIZ） 千聖（PENICILLIN/Crack6） LEVIN（La’cryma Christi） SHUN.（exFANATIC◆CRISIS/THE MICRO HEAD 4N’S） 櫻井有紀（Raphael/rice） Ruiza（D） seek（Psycho le Cému/MIMIZUQ） YAMATO（UCHUSENTAI:NOIZ） ヒカリト(AIORIN) おおくぼけい（アーバンギャルド） 小春（チャラン・ポ・ランタン） 友納真緒 須藤千春 篤人（eStrial） 田浪真悟（Z’s） 鴇田望 坂井崇人（from新潟） 平岡健一（from札幌）

Hello everyone, I didn't find an other topic like this one so be free to remove it if I missed it. As a j-music listener for a while now, especially vk, I heard a lot from my entourage. The mains subjects are about the dress, the boy/girl looks and how japanese sound for people. I feel like to avoid the question flood it as to be a type of music that we can only enjoy ourself, like if it couldn't be share with others because it not enough mainstream. Do you have some anecdote to share about how you may be perceived by your entourage?